Company announces ongoing project to augment IntegriClaim estimator with finishes, features, and operations found in high value homes
LOS ANGELES DECEMBER 27, 2005 – Marshall and Swift / Boeckh (MS/B), the leading worldwide provider of building cost data and estimating technology to the property insurance industry, announces an ongoing project to augment its IntegriClaim(TM) field estimating product with operations,
features and finishes customarily found in high-value homes. The continual expansion of the IntegriClaim database gives insurance carriers and adjusters the ability to create more accurate and consistent loss estimates for upscale and custom-built homes.
“Growth in the high-value home marketplace and increased use of MS/B’s RCT High Value(TM) product, a high-value home valuation application, has amplified the need for the creation of a comprehensive database of high-value features and finishes. In order to deliver the data in the most useful format possible, MS/B has localized it to impact the upscale areas in where high value homes typically occur”, says Jonathan Kost, Vice President of Claims at MS/B. “The data will be updated on a quarterly basis to coincide with the delivery of our Underwriting building cost updates, allowing our clients to react quickly as new high value areas emerge throughout the country. This data-set is especially important for insurance carriers who use RCT High Value on the underwriting side; true indemnification is achieved because the claims payments are generated from the same ‘total-component’ data.”
MS/B most recently enhanced IntegriClaim with over 300 upscale or high value components such as built in aquariums, windows with built-in shades, arbors, granite and marble sunken tubs, 1″ X 10″ and 1″ X 12″ base molding, and adobe face veneering. MS/B has also identified and localized soft costs such as fees and overhead and profit to actual high-value areas.
MS/B’s research has also revealed a more complex real estate market today, with an increasing number high-value home markets emerging in most large metro areas and resort areas. These emerging markets, over 2300 across the United States and Canada, include areas such as Hilton Head, North Carolina; Aspen, Colorado; the Lake Tahoe area; Shreveport, Louisiana; Woodbridge, Ontario; St.-Henri, Montreal; and West Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada; and a large number of coastal, mountain and island locations. Not only are more high valued markets emerging, but the number of high-value homes that are being built is steadily increasing.
About MS/B
Marshall & Swift / Boeckh (MS/B), an MDA company, is the leading supplier of local building cost information, residential and commercial property valuation technology and services for the property and casualty insurance sector in the United States and Canada. MS/B has five offices throughout the U.S. and Canada. For information, please contact Marsha Berenson, Media Coordinator, at 800-285-1288, Ext. 2828, e-mail MAILTO:[email protected], or visit MS/B’s Web site at HTTP://www.msbinfo.com.
About MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA)
MDA provides advanced information solutions that capture and process vast amounts of data, produce essential information, and improve the decision making and operational performance in business and government organizations worldwide.
MDA employs more than 2,500 people in locations across the United States, Europe, and Canada. The company trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol TSX:MDA.
Tags: Marshall & Swift / Boeckh (MSB)
